In what has been described as a horrendous racially-motivated hate crime, a three-year old Palestinian toddler was assaulted last month by an American woman in an apartment complex swimming pool, where the child’s mother and sibling were also present.
The woman, identified as Elizabeth Wolf, was seen by witnesses as “very intoxicated” who “had tried to drown [the] child and argued with the child’s mother.”
When the mother went to rescue her child, Wolf reached for her headscarf and ripped it off.
According to police, Wolf accused the child’s mother of not being “really American.” She has been charged with attempted murder. Since the incident on May 19, the 42-year old has reportedly made $US40,000 bail to be released from jail pending the resolution of her case.
Last Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) released a statement, condemning the attack.
“Mrs. H, the mother, who wears hijab [Islamic headscarf] and modest swimwear, was watching her children in the shallow end of the pool when a white American woman entered the swimming pool area,” CAIR said in the press release.
“The alleged attacker reportedly approached the mother with racist interrogations then jumped into the swimming pool and grabbed the children to the deep end of the pool to allegedly drown them.” The toddler’s six-year old brother was also attacked, but managed to escape.
“The alleged attacker snatched off the mother’s head scarf and used it to beat the mother as well as kicking her to keep her away while forcing her daughter’s head underwater,” the statement read.
The toddler was also helped by a bystander. According to the police, the child “had been yelling for help and was coughing up water”.
Immediately after her arrest, a bystander reportedly heard the perpetrator yell to another bystander who was comforting the mother: “Tell her I will kill her and I will kill her whole family.”
The mother, identified as Mrs H, expressed her grief in the CAIR statement, saying: “We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids.”
“My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here. My daughter is traumatised; whenever I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides, telling me she is afraid the lady will come and immerse her head in the water again.”
“Also, my husband’s employment is jeopardised, due to having to leave work to accompany me and our four kids whenever we have appointments and errands to run.”
CAIR, which is the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organisation in the US is now calling on “state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate an allegedly bias-motivated murder attempt targeting Muslim children in Euless, Texas, as a hate crime and take all precautions to keep the Muslim family and the Muslim community safe.”
CAIR’s Austin, Texas, operations manager, Shaimaa Zayan said “We are seeing a new level of bigotry here where a person deeply believes they get to decide, based on religion, spoken language, and country of origin, whose kids deserve to stay alive and whose don’t.”
“We ask for a hate-crime probe, a higher bail bond, and an open conversation with officials to address this alarming increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian sentiment.”
Texas House of Representatives member from Euless, Salman Bhojani, said he was left “appalled” by the attacks.
“I’m shocked and appalled by this alleged racist, Islamophobic occurrence that took place in my town,” Bhojani said. “Hate has no place in Euless, District 92, or anywhere in our great state.”
There has been a growing number of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents across the US amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians since October 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took hostages.
In its press release, CAIR reported receiving 3,578 complaints of bias and discrimination in the last three months of 2023.